The glitterati has left Toronto, the flashbulbs have faded and the parties have wound down. The Toronto International Film Festival has come to a close, after another successful year showcasing the best of Canadian and international cinema. In an unprecedented year where TIFF saw more films, celebrities, media and perhaps more buzz than ever, it’s tricky to condense all the incredible storytelling into one, short list. But alas, not all the foreign gems or thought-provoking docs will achieve mainstream release.

While some of my most enjoyable moments during TIFF occurred while watching inspirational films like Nils Tavernier’s The Finishers or the quirky story of Burt Shavitz, the bearded wonder behind Burt’s Bees directed by Jody Shapiro, there was an impressive amount of film peppered with A-listers we all know and love.

Hollywood darlings aside, this is going to be one hell of a season for film and I’m thrilled to have gotten a head start in Toronto. Here’s my top 10 list of must-see flicks that premiered during TIFF:

Third Person
Liam Neeson, Adrien Brody and James Franco star in the latest interwoven tale from Canadian Academy Award-winning writer-director Paul Haggis, which jumps from Paris to Rome to New York as it traces the hidden connections between three very different men. Read my review.

Photo by Alberto E. Rodriguez/Getty Images

Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom
Idris Elba is a force as the South African freedom fighter-turned president in this powerful adaptation of Nelson Mandela’s autobiography Long Walk to Freedom.

Enough Said
This modern romantic comedy from indie filmmaker Nicole Holofcener follows the misadventures of a divorcée who finds herself making a new friend — and dating that new friend’s ex-husband at the same time. Starring Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Catherine Keener and the late James Gandolfini in one of his final screen roles. Read my review.

Devil’s Knot
Atom Egoyan dramatizes the fallout from the notorious 1993 West Memphis murders, focusing on the grieving mother (Reese Witherspoon) of one of the murdered boys as she grows increasingly troubled by the lynch-mob fever that grips the town.

PHOTO: fashionmagazine.com

Dallas Buyers Club
Matthew McConaughey, Jennifer Garner and Jared Leto star in Canadian director Jean-Marc Vallée’s take on the true story of accidental AIDS activist Ron Woodroof, whose cross-border smuggling network brought much-needed treatments into the hands of HIV and AIDS patients neglected by the medical establishment. Read my review.

Labour Day
The latest film from Canadian writer-director Jason Reitman centres on 13-year-old Henry (Gattlin Griffith) as he confronts the pangs of adolescence while struggling to care for his reclusive mother, Adele (Kate Winslet). On a back-to-school shopping trip, Henry and Adele encounter Frank (Josh Brolin), a man both intimidating and clearly in need of help, who convinces them to take him into their home.

PHOTO: latimes.com

Blood Ties
Clive Owen and Billy Crudup lead a powerhouse cast — including Mila Kunis, Marion Cotillard and Matthias Schoenaerts — as a pair of brothers on opposite sides of the law in Guillaume Canet’s English-language remake of the gritty, 1970s-set crime drama Les liens du sang. Read my review.

12 Years a Slave – Winner of the BlackBerry People’s Choice Award
Director Steve McQueen’s shocking, based-on-fact story of a 19th-century freeman kidnapped and sold into slavery in the Deep South. The enormously talented Chiwetel Ejiofor leads an exceptional ensemble cast that includes Michael Fassbender, Brad Pitt, Paul Giamatti, Alfre Woodard and Benedict Cumberbatch.

If you weren’t able to make it to Toronto for TIFF, there’s still an opportunity to catch many of the films that screened during the festival. The Vancouver International Film Festival kicks off Thursday, Sept. 26, with an impressive lineup of world-class cinema. Tickets are on sale now at viff.org.

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